Street Fighter 5 is just now over five years old. The latest in the iconic fighting game franchise has had somewhat of a tumultuous history among fans. Many praised the game for its balancing and overall production value. Some others were hung up on what they consider to be uninspired character diversity and a still-troubled online experience. But Street Fighter 5 is in a much better position than when it first released. With its final season in progress, fans are wondering who the last fighter will be.
Season 5 of Street Fighter 5 is well underway with the return of Dan Hibiki, the goofball spoof of series mainstay Ryu, and the recent release of fortune-teller Rose in Street Fighter 5. The next two fighters have already been confirmed by Capcom. The powerful hermit Oro will return, pet turtle in hand, followed by the arrival of Akira from Rival Schools. Akira specifically highlights Capcom's moves throughout the history of Street Fighter 5 of bringing in characters from across their other properties like Final Fight. Fans already have many theories about whether the final fighter will be a completely new character or another crossover.
Who Will Be the Last to Arrive in Street Fighter 5?
With such an enormous history of fighters to draw from, it's hard to accurately guess who might be the last character to come to Street Fighter 5. Given Capcom's introduction of crossovers from other series like Final Fight and Rival Schools, it expands the possibilities even more. Regardless of who that character is, they'll have a big impact on Street Fighter 5's legacy. That's likely part of why the discussion can become so heated online; Street Fighter 5 will need to go out with a bang. So naturally, long-time fans are intensely curious about who could make the appearance next.
Most of the speculation falls into three categories: another returning Street Fighter character, a crossover character, or a completely new character, and each possibility makes sense. With the popularity of returning Street Fighter characters like Rose and Oro, it wouldn't be surprising to see another character from older games return. Street Fighter Alpha mainstays like Adon and Sodom top some lists, with fighters like Fei Long or Sean rounding out mainline Street Fighter representation. Sean would especially fit well, given his relationship with other characters like Laura, and chronologically he could be set up as a new main protagonist in the game's story.
One of the more interesting possibilities for a new character would be another crossover character. Final Fight already has a lot of fighters present like Cody, Poison, and Abigail. With the recent reveal of Akira in Street Fighter 5, it wouldn't be out of the question for another fighter hailing from the long dormant Rival Schools to make an appearance. Characters like Batsu have appeared in some of the crossover games, but haven't had their own title in more than a decade.
A supposed leak reported a very surprising proposition, that Demetri from the Darkstalkers franchise would join Street Fighter 5. Darkstalkers has also been dormant outside of Morrigan's appearance in crossover games like Marvel vs. Capcom. The introduction of Demetri would be quite a surprise, and would be seen by many fans as a glimmer of hope for a new Darkstalkers.
For many veteran fans, the most likely choice would be a brand new character. Street Fighter 5 has been no stranger to new characters, and with this being the final DLC, a new fighter could help set up the road towards the inevitable Street Fighter 6. While chronologically the story of Street Fighter 5 is not the most recent, it's likely that a new Street Fighter game would take place after the events of Street Fighter 3. That does run contrary to the idea of Sean taking the lead in the story, but either possibility is equally likely. With thirty years of Street Fighter history to draw from, it's very much almost anyone's guess as to who the final addition of Street Fighter 5 will be.
Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition is available now on PC and PS4.
